Bizarre impalement fatalities--where is the implement?

Two fatalities due to unusual impalement injuries are reported. (1) A large branch broken off during a storm had entered a passing car and perforated the chest of the driver and the back of the seat. The chest organs were grossly lacerated. The car was subsequently stopped by another tree and this second impact removed the wood from the body. (2) A man suffered anorectal impalement by the leg of a stool turned upside down. He had introduced one stool leg into his anus for sexual stimulation and fell onto it. This resulted in a wound channel 36 cm long including perforation of the rectum, urinary bladder, mesentery, transverse mesocolon and liver. Before autopsy, the mode of death was unclear because the man had removed the stool leg himself, his wife had hidden the stool from the scene, and there were no relevant external injuries. In both cases, a reliable reconstruction required investigation of the scene and consideration of extremely unlikely circumstances or of bizarre human activities.     

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Ohne Zusammenfassung     

The effects of negotiation democracy: A comparative analysis

Abstract. To what extent are variations in public attitudes and outcomes of social/economic policies caused by institutions like consociational democracy, corporatism and regimes of veto players? In dealing with this question, this paper starts from a critical review of Arend Lijphart's argument in Patterns of Democracy that consensus democracies are better, kinder and gentler democracies. I agree that consociational democracy, corporatism, and regimes with veto players have different effects on attitudes and policy outcomes – even after controlling for effects of political power distribution, as well as domestic and international contexts of policymaking. However, consociational democracy is not a 'better, gentler and kinder' democracy, though neither is it worse than majoritarian democracy in governing societies. Corporatism is efficient in reducing unemployment and inflation, and in expanding public receipts and the reach of the welfare state. Finally, regimes of veto players constrain expansion of public receipts. This analysis is based on data covering 22 OECD countries, 1971–1996.     

Europäische Säkularisierung — ein Sonderweg in die postsäkulare Gesellschaft?

Religion ist ein Phänomen, das mit der Zunahme der Umlaufgeschwindigkeit von Kommunikation zunimmt. Je mehr Gesellschaften säkularisiert werden, umso mehr erhöht sich religiöse Kommunikation. Dieses Paradox wird zunächst theoretisch kommentiert und als Herausforderung für kommunikationstheoretisch ansetzende Gesellschaftstheorien aufgenommen. Zunehmende religiöse Kommunikation produziert weiterhin — über die alten institutionalisierten Formen hinaus — neue soziale Formen religiöser Kommunikation, die in besonderen Forschungsfeldern thematisiert werden: in der Forschung zu den neuen religiösen Bewegungen, in der Forschung zur Mobilisierung religiöser Differenz, sowie in der medialen Verstärkung religiöser Kommunikation. Unter diesem Blickwinkel erscheint die Beschreibung Europas als eines säkularen Kontinents als theoretisch zu einfach und empirisch irreführend. Die These der ?unsichtbaren Religion“ hat dieses Bild zwar zu korrigieren begonnen. Die These der ?neuen Sichtbarkeit“ von Religion in Europa geht darüber noch hinaus. Religion wird — entgegen der Säkularisierungserwartung — zunehmend ein öffentliches Phänomen. Europa lässt sich als ein öffentlicher Raum beschreiben, in dem religiöse Kommunikation mit dem Selbstverständnis moderner öffentlicher Kommunikation zusammentrifft und beides, religiöse Kommunikation wie die Öffentlichkeit, in der kommuniziert wird, zur weiteren Reflexion und kognitiven Dezentrierung des Selbstverständnisses von Modernität zwingt.     

Zur Transformation nationalstaatlicher Öffentlichkeit in Europa

Es gibt bereits viel europäische Öffentlichkeit. Die öffentliche Thematisierung Europas wie im BSE-Fall, im Korruptionsfall oder im Bereich der Migrationspolitik hat Resonanzen erzeugt, die über nationale Öffentlichkeiten hänausreichen. Um diese Öffentlichkeit in Europa zu fassen, wird zunächst ein analytisches Modell der variablen sozialen Lokalisierung dieser Öffentlichkeit vorgeschlagen. Im Unterschied zu nationaler Öffentlichkeit ist diese Öffentlichkeit nicht mehr an die Unterstellung einer Sprachgemeinschaft (ein ?Volk“ oder ?Demos“) gebunden. An deren Stelle treten Netzwerke politischer Akteure, die über issue-spezifische Kommunikationsgemeinschaften, nicht mehr über Sprachgemeinschaften zusammengehalten werden. Die Strukturoptionen dieser emergenten Öffentlichkeit werden schließlich in einem weiteren analytischen Modell bestimmt mit Implikationen für die normative Frage nach der Demokratisierungsfunktion und -fähigkeit europäischer Öffentlichkeit.     

STR analysis of artificially degraded DNA-results of a collaborative European exercise

Degradation of human DNA extracted from forensic stains is, in most cases, the result of a natural process due to the exposure of the stain samples to the environment. Experiences with degraded DNA from casework samples show that every sample may exhibit different properties in this respect, and that it is difficult to systematically assess the performance of routinely used typing systems for the analysis of degraded DNA samples. Using a batch of artificially degraded DNA with an average fragment size of approx. 200 bp a collaborative exercise was carried out among 38 forensic laboratories from 17 European countries. The results were assessed according to correct allele detection, peak height and balance as well as the occurrence of artefacts. A number of common problems were identified based on these results such as strong peak imbalance in heterozygous genotypes for the larger short tandem repeat (STR) fragments after increased PCR cycle numbers, artefact signals and allelic drop-out. Based on the observations, strategies are discussed to overcome these problems. The strategies include careful balancing of the amount of template DNA and the PCR cycle numbers, the reaction volume and the amount of Taq polymerase. Furthermore, a careful evaluation of the results of the fragment analysis and of automated allele calling is necessary to identify the correct alleles and avoid artefacts.     

Homicide by blunt force in 2 Scandinavian capitals

In the Oslo and Copenhagen areas, 77 instances of blunt force homicides were committed from 1985-1994, accounting for 18% of all homicides in that 10-year period. Fifty-four (70%) of the victims were male, often killed by an acquaintance during a fight. Almost 70% of the female victims were killed in their own home, whereas that was the case for only 30% of the male victims. The majority of the victims (of both sexes) had been hit in more than 1 region of the body. A female offender was encountered in 4 instances; none of their victims were children. Of the 3 children in the blunt force victim group, 2 were battered children. Many of the victims with a blood alcohol level of 0 turned out to have lived for some time after the injury.     

STR genotyping and mtDNA sequencing of latent fingerprint on paper

A systematic study was conducted to investigate whether DNA can be successfully extracted from latent fingerprints deposited on ordinary paper and analysed using short tandem repeat profiling and mitochondrial DNA sequencing. In order to evaluate the performance of latent fingerprint analysis in a criminal case, experiments with varying conditions were carried out to improve our understanding of low copy number (LCN) DNA typing. After optimising the extraction methods to achieve increased sensitivity, the examination of touched paper can routinely yield the STR profile of the individual who has touched it. A fingerprint can therefore be considered as a potential source of DNA for genetic identification. Nevertheless, the findings of our "after enhancement experiment" (using chemically or physically pre-treated fingerprints), and our "mixture experiment" (using fingerprints from three to four people on the same sheet of paper) help to define the limitations of the low copy number PCR technique in forensic casework.